The A-Z of rural Britain

12:00AM BST 04 May 2001

AS the Prime Minister declares the beginning of the end of the battle with foot and mouth, it is useful to determine the real facts of the crisis.

The number of recorded cases so far - 1,538 as of Wednesday - would be much larger if it included outbreaks among animals culled in contiguous areas: the total number of farms where there have been culls is 6,600. The best way to look at the crisis is in terms of the number of beasts slaughtered or awaiting slaughter - 2.5 million so far, more than five times the 1967-68 total. If the 1,877,000 sheep (average length: 3.5ft), 421,000 cows (7ft), 111,000 pigs (5ft) and 1,000 assorted goats, llamas, alpacas and bison were laid end to end, they would stretch for 1,908 miles: from the Strand to the Sahara. And this is not the final tally - new cases are being recorded every day.

Here is the list of all the places where outbreaks have been declared up until Wednesday. Some sites will have played host to more than one case.